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I confess that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, the Son of God revealed in the fulness of time; that he is called God, not by nature but by virtue of his office; that he, according to the oracles of the prophets and his own teaching, manifested and fulfilled his Father's righteousness and did wonderful works. His honour, glory and power and whatever he has, is derived from his Father, the One and only God.

I understand that he has been appointed by the same God to be the judge of the living and the dead; it is he who reveals God's righteousness and shows us the Way; and he will give life to those who are obedient and follow that Way, and who

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wait for his second coming, when he will show his power to open and close the books of life and death.

When that future Day comes, all will be subject to him; Satan will be bound in the abyss and at the end death itself will be finally destroyed. The Holy Scriptures teach that it is in Christ and through Christ that we are brought together in one and sealed through his death.

But I deny that he is either the same as God the Father, or that he is by nature equal with his Father: this is a papist opinion and contradicted by Holy Scripture.

Jesus Christ is our advocate. He is reigning and will reign in the future. He will consummate on earth what is now done in heaven. He offered himself once for all, and he is now in heaven, sharing the afflictions of the saints.

Whatever the Holy Scriptures tell us about Christ, that I reverently embrace and accept. But that he is one Being with God the Father or equal to Him, contrary to the Truth -- that I cannot confess. The honour and glory as Creator and Sustainer of all things is due to the Father alone, and I will not take these away and give them to the Son; rather will I maintain a difference between the Father, from Whom are all things, and the Son, through whom are all things renewed, reconciled and regenerated by his blood, by his cross, and by his death".73